C is for COW

Cows are a signal of wealth and pride in Rwanda. Bridal dowries are paid in the form of cows. Mpa inka! literally translated means “Give me a cow!” and is a common expression used to show surprise or disbelief. Visit any Rwandan at her home and she will likely offer you a large mug of warm milk (often accompanied with an excessive amount of sugar). Traditional Rwandan dance involves raising your arms and hands and swaying them, like the large horns of precious Rwandan cows.

"Cow callers" sing to the cows presented at a bride's
dowry ceremony

The Rwandan government has initiated a “one cow per family” program, which aims to provide poor families in Rwanda with cows. Villagers meet together to vote on which family is most in need of support, and later provides them with a cow. Once this cow has given birth, the recipient family will return the calf to the village so it can be given to another poor family. All the while, the cow’s milk and manure can provide nutrition, fertilizer, and/or income for the family, as well as generally elevating their social status.

When I first heard about this program I thought it was ridiculous. Just give a cow away?! If you have read any other posts on this blog, you know how I feel about this sort of charity. Early in my service, when I visited the home of two malnourished siblings and found their father drinking sorghum beer, feeding an enormous government-donated cow while his children cried with hunger, I felt my skepticism was vindicated. Months later I found the man had sold the cow and spent all the money on alcohol.

Experts also warn about the dangers of these types of aid programs. The well known charity Send a Cow works around the developing world (Rwanda included) giving poor people, women in particular, cows and other farm animals like sheep and goats. In the developed world, they market their fundraising campaigns around the idea that when you buy a family a cow, you are providing them an opportunity for a new life, animals being such a good source of income in most developing countries.

There are numerous problems with this model. Send a Cow in particular, has received criticism several times for the amount of money they actually spend on donated farm animals versus their European office and administrative costs. More importantly, however, cows don’t just magically produce nutritious, income generating milk. They also consume an enormous amount of food. In the most densely populated country in Africa, you can imagine how taxing it is for farmers and families to decide between using their scarce land to plant food for themselves or their cows. In case you’re wondering, it’s often the cow that is prioritized.

Environmentalists worldwide have come out against this animal giving charity scheme. Conservationists at the World Land Trust have referred to these projects as “environmentally unsound and economically disastrous”. Scientists are also warning, world food shortages and the impact of animal grazing on water supply and farming is alarming. 

So, why the ruinous program to provide everyone with a cow? The cooperative nature of the scheme forces Rwandans of all ethnic backgrounds to work together for the sake of community development. If you look further back in Rwandan history, you can understand even more.

Traditionally, the minority Tutsi ethnic group (persecuted and indiscriminately slaughtered in the 1994 genocide and in several previous attacks dating as far back as the 1962 independence), were cow herders. Many were Rwandan royalty and considered much superior to their neighbors, the majority Hutu ethnic group, who were poor land farmers. While attending a Genocide remembrance ceremony last year, a survivor retold the audience how groups of interahamwe came through the villages, stealing all the cows of the Tutsi they were about to kill. I was surprised by the emphasis he placed on the loss of cows while retelling a story about the death of almost a million people.

So, in my very non-expert opinion, I think I understand how, when the Tutsi-born President tells his countrymen (the majority of which remain poor, rural farmers, and are descendants of Hutus), that they should all have the opportunity to own cows, the positive symbolism and good will, in this case, might outweigh the negative environmental and agricultural effects.